Church-going teens get more education

'You kind of already know where you're going'

Published: 11/06/2012 at 12:18 PM

(DESERET NEWS) — Churchgoing teens are 40 percent more likely to graduate from high school and 70 percent more likely to enroll in college, according to a new study published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Church attendance, as well as any religious affiliation, boosts academic advancement, according to the study from sociologists at Brigham Young University and Rice University.

Teens who identified as Mormon or Jewish had the greatest odds of graduating from high school and enrolling in college, based on data gathered for the study from more than 8,000 teens from all over the nation.

Teens who identified as Catholic, mainline Protestant or a part of black Protestant congregations were twice as likely to finish high school than nonaffiliated teens and 80 percent more likely to enroll in college.